George W. Bush Delivers Message at Korean War Prayer Meeting in Seoul

A giant screen shows former U.S. president George W. Bush delivering a speech at the prayer meeting held at the Sangam World Cup Stadium in Seoul

Former U.S. President George W. Bush, who calls himself a known devout Christian, visited South Korea on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, to participate in – and speak at — a peace prayer meeting named “Over Division to Peace” to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the three-year war in which he gave his message about his religious beliefs.

In his message, Bush told about the rapid growth of South Korea even after the devastating Korean War which began in 1950 and said that we can’t get our freedom without efforts.

“While South Korea prospers, the people of North Korea have suffered profoundly,” he said, adding that, “communism had resulted in dire poverty, mass starvation and brutal suppression.

“In recent years,” he went on to say, “the suffering has been compounded by the leader who wasted North Korea’s precious few resources on personal luxuries and nuclear weapons programs.”

Bush concluded his message by stating that God is keeping South Korea always and that he hoped for the reunification of the two countries.

H.E. Fernando Borbon, Costa Rican Ambassador to Korea (right), joins others to listen to speech of the former U.S. President

The gathering at Sangam World Cup Stadium in western Seoul, also featured leading Christian leaders like H.E. Fernando Borbon, Costa Rica Ambassador to Korea who is also a missionary pastor with the Manmin church, Cho Yong-gi, founder of Seoul Yoido Full Gospel Church, and more than 60,000 Christians who congregated for prayers for a peaceful solution over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs and hope for an early reunification of the divided Koreas.

Bush has visited South Korea twice since leaving office to speak at forums — in August and October 2009.

Note: The Korean War (1950–53) was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and People’s Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on June 25, 1950 and an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953. The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. A huge number of deaths were recorded during the three-year war. According to some estimates, there were 4 million military and civilian casualties: 33,600 Americans 16,000 UN allies 415,000 South Koreans 520,000 North Koreans 900,000 Chinese.